He says that all seek their own. This in contrast to what Paul had said, this one thing I do. When he had wrote to them saying that he was singular in his intention, that for him to live is Christ, to die is gain. To live is Christ, to die is gain. For all seek their own.
For me to live is Christ. What a contrast how many lessons there are in this for us. This is Cross Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of First Thessalonians.
Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. But for now, here's Pastor Rick in First Thessalonians Chapter 3 with today's edition of Cross Reference Radio. Verse 6, First Thessalonians Chapter 3. But now that Timothy has come to us from you and brought us good news of your faith and love, that you always have good remembrance of us, greatly desiring to see us as we also to see you. Well, Timothy has come to Paul.
He's trekked about 400 miles round trip all the way to Thessalonica and now to Corinth where Paul is writing this letter from. And this man, Timothy, is quite a blessing in Paul's life. I think any ministry to be fruitful depends greatly upon people who God gives to the ministry, people whom the pastor could never have picked, could never have put an ad in the paper for. The Holy Spirit has brought them, has given them a heart to serve, to serve in that particular ministry. Timothy's heart was stirred to love Paul, to serve him. His wasn't the his wasn't the only heart that was so in love with this apostle. And they loved Paul without Paul ever putting forth any effort to get them to love him.
He was so focused on the ministry of Jesus Christ that was a sort of a blessing that came with it. Now you might say, well, what do you mean he did not try to get them to love him? You know, it's a big mistake to try to get someone to love you. You have to be who you are. And if you're creepy, then you need to fix that because they won't love you. But if you are trying to treat others as you would have them treat you within the confines of the scripture, you will be loved. And, you know, we don't want our children to sort of try to buy friends.
Well, God doesn't want us to do it either. But ability in Christ comes from dependability on Christ. That's what Timothy had. Certainly, he got it from Paul. Silas had it. I think he developed it with Paul without question.
I believe that. But for us to have an ability in Christ, we have to learn to be dependent on him. Now, God can pull away from us very easily and very quickly those things that we think we think make us safe until we learn the lesson that it is he and he alone that is our shield. Now, he is not looking to have us take the hard way. You know, there's a time to take the hard way, but I don't think we should look for it. Sometimes God prepares an easy path for us in many things that we do in life.
And other times it's a little difficult. As Job said, should we not accept from God's hand both the good and the bad? The Lord gives, the Lord takes away.
Blessed be the name of the Lord. And so ability comes from dependability, yes, but there's more. It's hard work. This is hard work to the end, to completion.
That's called perseverance. Sometimes it's easy to start a project. It's very difficult to finish. I have some projects around the house that I've been trying to finish.
There's this one cup I've been meaning to wash, and I start out. Maybe the funds aren't there. The time, whatever it is, that's understandable, but also what is not understandable is to just be careless about these things. Well, hard work is not enough.
The ability to also know when not to work. We must learn that. We must learn that when we are waiting, we are doing something. What are we doing? Waiting.
And waiting is work. I want to read to you what Paul says about this man Timothy. Years later, writing to the church at Philippi while Paul was in the Roman jail, he says, I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, that I also may be encouraged when I know your state.
For I have no one like-minded who will sincerely care for your state. For all seek their own, not the things which are of Christ Jesus. But you know his proven character, that as a son with his father, he served me in the gospel. Therefore, I hope to send him at once.
Would you not want someone to write something like that about you? He says that all seek their own. This in contrast to what Paul had said, this one thing I do. When he had wrote to them saying that he was singular in his intention, that for him to live is Christ, to die is gain. To live is Christ, to die is gain. For all seek their own. For me to live is Christ.
What a contrast how many lessons there are in this for us. He says, but you know his proven character. Do you know how many people go to new churches, churches whether they're new or old is irrelevant, the fact that the person shows up as a newbie to that church, not or resenting someone saying you first must be proven. We have to get to know you. Come and worship with us for a while. Just sit still. Receive the word. You cannot sit under the word of God. What can you do with God's word? And a lot of Christians resent that.
They approach church as though, you know, they should come in the door with a resume and the best resume wins. God says, no, it's not how I do it. He says, and he brought us good news of your faith and love. He brought word to Paul, but when he brought word, he returned with questions that the Thessalonians had that it's interesting. Timothy says, I will defer those to the apostle. You have these questions about end times. I know the answer, but I'm going to let him put it in writing and we are glad that he has because Paul addresses it in this letter. We'll begin getting to that in the next chapter. He'll start talking about Christian behavior.
He'll also talk about a doctrine of the rapture and we'll all be excited to hear about that. He says, greatly desiring to see us as we also to see you. I love this section here and I'll try to share why it is to me one of those sweet little spots of scripture that you pass over if you're not careful. He says, greatly desiring. It is a single word in the Greek, epi potheo, and it is a compound word, epi being a pawn, and potheo is yearning, superimposed yearning.
It's something that is placed upon me that is an intense craving. And so they said, tell Paul, Timothy, take this message to him. We are greatly desiring him. We have this thing put on our heart, this yearning for Paul. You remember I said that he was loved without even trying. He showed up, he preached the gospel, he showed up, he preached the gospel, they fell in love with him.
And so together these two words, this compound word, epi potheo, means intense craving or to dote upon. What a picture. This was not some pretty lass from childhood that wanted to dote upon Paul. This was an assembly of people who had come out of paganism, and they were being persecuted at this time. They were rookies in the faith. They weren't backing down.
How many of you have been walking with Christ? You back down at the snap of a finger. A little pressure on your life. Uh-huh, Jesus doesn't love me. Let's sing that song again. And you never sort of like man up or woman up or Christian up. Now, it's understandable to be frightened, to be a little discombobulated. But I think what is also understandable is that we get it together. We pull it together. Not for our sake or our children's sake, but for Christ's sake.
Now, you parents, you know if you've been struggling with to make ends meet or maybe medical condition is heartbreaking when you think of your children, the little children especially. You want to shield them from that, so you're strong in front of them. But you should as Christians be strong first for Christ. And all the other things line up with that.
That's seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and then all things being added to you. You business men and women, you know many of us who are consumers, when we go to a private business, we fail to recognize sometimes or remember that these are real people trying to make a living. They're not all greedy. A great many of them in this country are not.
And that the owners of these countries, unless the business is well established, oftentimes they lose sleep on how they're going to make the payroll. We walk away, boy they should have given me a discount. He's trying to make the payroll and if he is a Christian or she is a Christian, she is trying to do everything the right way because of Jesus Christ. Because for them to live is Christ.
To die is gain, but that is out of my control, at least it should be. And so they really loved Paul and not only did they love Paul, all the churches fell in love with Paul. The Ephesians, the church at Ephesus, when Paul was making his way to Jerusalem, he stopped by there and he felt that this would be the last time that he would see them and he told them so. And he says, I know after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. And as the story winds up, it says, then they all wept freely and fell on Paul's neck and kissed him, sorrowing most of all for the words which he spoke that they would see his face no more.
They accompanied him to the ship. They were devastated, their hearts were broken. He doesn't say to them, oh no, only love Jesus and not me. That would be inhumane.
It would be out of balance. That would have an appearance of righteousness, but it would be foolish. He knew that they once did not know him and they once did not know Christ. Now they knew him, now they knew Jesus, and now they loved both. And this, this was powerful because he would see them again in glory, if never again here. This is the Christian faith. Verse seven, he continues, therefore, brethren, in all our affliction and distress, we are comforted concerning you by your faith.
Yeah, they took courage. He took courage from Timothy's report. Can you imagine Paul loving them not knowing if they're going to still love him before Timothy shows up? He sees Timothy, he's so delighted to see him, he's gotten there safely. Nothing's happened to him.
He knows of all the dangers between the 200 miles from Corinth to Macedonia and back the 400 miles there about total. He's happy to see Timothy, thank God. Then what is the news? How are they doing? As I mentioned, they were under pressure, especially that they were rookies, they were new at this, they hadn't been a year in the faith. They stood firm. Later, years later, Paul would write to the church of Corinth where he's writing this letter from to the Thessalonians, but years later, he's going to write to Corinth and he's going to say, we are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed, perplexed, not in despair, persecuted, not forsaken, struck down, not destroyed. You see, he collected himself. He'd been through hard things in life just like you and me. There are people he loved and care about. Sometimes he had to leave those who he loved behind who were sick when God called him to go forward. There was another time when one of the brothers was sick and Paul said, God spared him for my sake, knowing it would break my heart. He knew about not having enough money to make ends meet. He knew about others not having enough money to make ends meet.
He knew what it was like to be hard pressed. He covered ground that all of us at one point or another cover ourselves and he faced it like he believed in Jesus Christ. Well, what am I supposed to do with that when I read these things, knowing they were true? When I know what Jesus has done for me?
I'm supposed to set my compass, my course in this direction and then I am supposed to stay the course. Having begun in the Spirit, I am not to be made perfect in my flesh. A lot of Christians don't know what that means because they're afraid of the Holy Spirit. They think he's going to cause them to run around the sanctuary like a crazy bird.
Don't worry about that. If you do, we will take you down in the Spirit. He knew the value of believing. He knew many suffered shipwreck because they were content, shallow water, afraid of the deep blue sea.
He was not and many others were not, but some they mutiny. They turn against the captain, the author and finisher of our faith. They take over the ship, the ship of their own heart. They're not satisfied with what he is doing and how he is doing it. They began in the Spirit, but they're not continuing.
May we never experience it ourselves. So in verse 80 continues, for now we live if you stand fast in the Lord. I can tell you what that means.
It's very easy because it tells us what it means. It means if you stand fast in the Lord as opposed to if you don't. But let me more expressively translate what this says where he says, for now we live. That part I want to just translate. Now we are really living. That's what he's writing to them. If you're standing in the faith, now we Paul, Silas, Timothy, now we're really living. We are stoked.
How much strength do I say that? Well, in Acts chapter 18, we have this passage that talks about this very moment in Thessalonians chapter 3. In Acts 18, Paul is in Corinth and he gets the word to Timothy and Luke writes about it. Dig this. Some of you younger ones are looking for a shovel.
Your generation doesn't use dig it. But anyway, when Silas and Timothy had come from Macedonia, you see, from the book of Acts, Acts 18, I'm reading from, Paul was compelled by the Spirit and testified to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ. Paul is in Corinth. He's worried a little bit. God comes to him and says, Paul, I've got many people in this city. Don't worry about it.
I'm going to take care of you. Word gets to him from Timothy, by Timothy, he tells him about the church at Thessalonica. Paul, Luke is careful to write, says, what?
We've got to have more fruit. If we can pull this off in Thessalonica, he doesn't word it this way, but this is what it ends up being, if this can be the case in Thessalonica, it will be the case in Corinth. And then he gets up and he heads down to the synagogue and he said, let me tell you about Yeshua, Messiah.
Let me tell you about him. And the church in Corinth took off, took off in many ways. While Paul was there, they gobbled up everything he had to say. He wrote to them later when he was correcting. He said, you lack no spiritual gift, but you're still a bunch of crazy nuts. And I want to fix that because that does not bring honor to Jesus Christ. And he did.
He did fix it. And so the question is, are we that kind of church that people hear about us and they get stoked? Are you that kind of Christian?
Am I that kind of Christian? What joy can there be in ministry if converts fail all the time under pressure? Jeremiah's ministry was that way, in sharp contrast to Paul's ministry. And yet Jeremiah, no question, was Paul's teacher, one of them.
He learned great things about ministry from Jeremiah. Never from the lips of Paul, after all he suffered, do we ever hear him say, I have suffered enough. I'm done. I've had it.
After all the churches God's used me to start, after all of the beatings I've taken, I'm done. It doesn't go out that way. It doesn't go out that way.
It doesn't go out that way. He says, I fought the good fight. I know what I lived for. I know what I did in my life. And I know why I did it.
And if I had to live again, I'd do it all over again that same way. I just skipped the steps that involved me being away from God. In verse 9, he continues, for what thanks can we render to God for you, for all the joy with which we rejoice for your sake before our God. So what can we say to God? We're so taken by, we've been praying for you. All we can say is thank you.
But somehow the words thank you do not seem to capture what I'm feeling in my heart. There's a fruit of being led. Paul had wanted to go to Asia where Ephesus was. He eventually gets there, but at the time that he was headed towards Thessalonica, God forbade him from going to Ephesus.
He wanted to go to Bithynia. The Holy Spirit said, no, I don't want you to go there either. Thank you, Lord, that Paul said, yes, Lord. It's been said, you can say yes, Lord, but you cannot say no, Lord. Because if he is Lord, then he is master.
And if he is master, you cannot refuse him. That was the life of Paul. Satan hindered him from returning to Thessalonica. But Satan could not shut him up in Corinth.
He could not hinder the ministry in Corinth. Maybe you have great dreams or ambitions or whatever it is for Christ and they're not coming off for you. So you preach what you are like a lily among thorns. You are still a lily among thorns. And where there is one lily, I don't know anything about plants except flowers. And also if I like them and I have some of them, I don't. But I would think if there's one, there's another.
Now someone will say, no, you've got to have the whole female-male thing going on there. Well, what are the bees for? He wrote to Timothy, he said, meditate on these things.
Give yourself entirely to them that your progress may be evident to all, not the flowers and the bees. Let me tell you about the birds and the, okay, that's bad. I just couldn't. You know, just going along here, I just got to have a little break in my head so to collect myself.
And so Paul begins pouring himself out in this church in Corinth, verse 10. We then read, night and day, praying exceedingly that we may see your face and perfect what is lacking in your faith. It bothered him that they were not perfected.
There was so much more work to do. You know, this is a peculiar thing about love. It is never wasted. You can't waste love. I mean, you can misapply affection, but you cannot waste agape love. If nothing else, the host, the one showing the love, finds favor with God.
If nothing else. But there's always more to love than nothing else. I was thinking about a song, or scripture verse actually, loving the neighbors in Paul writing, love one another, and just thinking how sometimes it is so difficult to love some people. In fact, in the flesh, it's impossible to love some people. You know, you can't love everyone all of the time in the flesh.
But in the Spirit, when you jar two and remember what this is all about, it's very easy. It's very easy to love anyone. How can you pray for someone you despise?
Maybe a politician. They're easy to despise. They make it easy.
It's like they took a course. And because they're so easy to despise and hold in contempt to have absolutely no respect for, we don't pray. How can you pray for someone you despise? Unless it's an imprecatory prayer, which we're forbidden to do as New Testament Christians.
God, could you just kill them from the toes up, inch by inch, over an hour's time? You can't pray those kind of things. You're not even supposed to thank them. We have to love our enemies if we're going to get anywhere. We say, well, look where it got Jesus. Father, forgive them.
They know not what they do. It got him a throne in heaven. That's what it got him.
It got him us. It might be poor English. But it comes across pretty well. You got it.
Who you got? Okay. Now, we do cover more territory in prayer than we do with our sandals and with our feet. But without our feet, prayer can't stand.
It has to be action. At some point, somebody's got to put boots on the ground. But that prayer, it's sort of like, you know, in World War II, it was that naval gunfire.
And in the Gulf War, it was the Air Force just dropping more bombs than you could count. You prepare the ground for ground troops. Prayer to us is that. And I have thought many times to God. I've even said it to him more than once. You know, Lord, I call for an airstrike.
I call for artillery. And I get nothing. I know I'm wrong when I say it. I tell him I'm wrong.
But that's how I feel sometimes. Not so much anymore because I've learned. I've learned that God will never let you go. He will never let you down. He will never let you off. I want to explain some of that.
That's not entirely original, but the explanations may be. God will not let us go. He is not going to say, I've had it with you. You're done with me. Out.
Never do that. Thanks for tuning in to Cross Reference Radio for this study in the book of 1 Thessalonians. Cross Reference Radio is the teaching ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia. To learn more information about this ministry, visit our website crossreferenceradio.com. Once you're there, you'll find additional teachings from Pastor Rick. We encourage you to subscribe to our podcast. When you subscribe, you'll be notified of each new edition of Cross Reference Radio. You can search for Cross Reference Radio in your favorite podcast app as well. That's all we have time for today, but we hope you'll join us next time as Pastor Rick continues to teach through the book of 1 Thessalonians right here on Cross Reference Radio.
Whisper: medium.en / 2023-09-15 19:22:25 / 2023-09-15 19:32:00 / 10